Rome and the East
Luke represents anything that we could think of as a meeting of ‘‘the San-
hedrin’’ and does so in a context (the first day of Passover) which is highly
improbable. For the rest, what we see is an examination in the house of a
high priest; or rather, in John’s case, of the two successive high priests, whose
current roles are carefully (and correctly) specified; again the distinction be-
tween the high priest currently in office (Caiaphas) and an ex-holder with
the rank of high priest is unique to him. Since no Gospel represents Pilate’s
decision as a formal verdict, there is a very clear sense in which the entire
notion of ‘‘the trial of Jesus’’ is a modern construct.
If instead it was a political decision, then it is again John who gives
the clearest conception of its motivation. As Martin Goodman points out,
Annas/Ananus was the first high priest to be appointed by a Romanpraefectus
after the provincialisation of Judaea in.., and he and Caiaphas between
them occupied the position for all but about three of the first twenty years
of the provincial period. They cannot but be seen as having collaborated suc-
cessfully with the occupying power. That Caiaphas actually expressed the
view that it was worth sacrificing one man to prevent Roman retribution on
the whole people ( Jn. :) cannot of course be known. But the thought
would have corresponded well enough to the logic of the political situation.
Moreover,eitherwe know nothing whatsoever about the crucifixionorwe
can at least accept the one detail on which all four Gospels agree, that on the
cross Jesus was described as ‘‘King of the Jews.’’ Only John adds the detail that
this inscription was called by the borrowed Latin termtitlos(titulus), and that
it was written in three languages. More important, it is he who represents
Pilate’s final dialogue with the crowd as turning on just this point: ‘‘If you
release this man, you are not a friend of Caesar; for anyone who makes him-
self a king opposes Caesar,’’ ‘‘Behold your king!’’ ‘‘Take him and crucify him,’’
‘‘Shall I crucify your king?’’ ‘‘We have no king but Caesar.’’ Philo’sAgainst
Flaccushappens to provide a precisely contemporary analysis of the suscep-
tibility to such pressure of a Roman governor who feels himself to be out of
favour with the emperor (Flacc.–/–).
It was still the day of preparation for Passover (paraskeuē), about the sixth
hour; there was still time for the crucifixion to take place, and for the bodies
of Jesus and the two robbers to be taken down before the festival proper
began (:), though the tomb where the body was laid had to be close be-
cause of the ‘‘preparation of the Jews.’’ By the next morning it was already of
course the first day of the festival, or, as John puts it, ‘‘the first day of the Sab-
bath’’ (:–:). It is the approach of Passover which dictates every aspect
of how the story unfolds, just as, in John’s narrative, Jesus’ life as a Galilean
holy man is structured by the need to go up repeatedly to Jerusalem to the